which Alocasia

Which Alocasia is this? I've seen several that look similar, how do you tell them apart?

Linda

Linda,

I cannot help you with ID but I am curious to find out what you have beneath it. The green spotted plant. I just got a cutting and am wondering what to do with it. If you dont know, can someone make this a double ID request?
Thanks so much, Ana

Anna, good question and I hope it gets an answer. I've had it (the plant below) about 10 years and got it because it was recommended as a low-light house plant. It has gotten tall and lanky and several times I've cut it back and tried (with no luck) to root the pieces. It gets a flower that looks like a very small Peace Lily.

Looks like alocasia amazonica. It could be another in the lowii group but only other one that would come to mind that looks so similar is polly.

The other plant is aglaonema its a hybrid the name excapes me at the moment. Dr Brown is the guy who introduced many of these to the US from Thialand. He created a lot of hybrids and brought in a lot of new forms. He still runs a nursery in florida dealing with these and Cordylines. He also wrote a few books on them hard to find but worth getting.

http://www.aroid.org/genera/aglaonema/

Yay Brian! Thank you. I did a little research and it looks like 'Maria'???http://www.raretrees.org/agla1916.html

Thanks! Ana

Thanks Brian, I thought it looked like that one but others are so similar.

Linda, I bought three different Alocasias from Carter and Holmes in Newberry last year and left them in the ground over the winter. When they did not pop right up this spring I assumed they had rotted and tossed the labels. I remember one was 'Purple Prince' but have no recollection of the other names. When I least expected it they reappeared bigger and better but they all look so much alike.

Brian, what characteristics should we be looking for to determine which is which?

I thought it looked like a Polly but guess I was wrong.

ardesia, don't you just love Carter & Holmes.

Linda, when I looked at the aroid website, they had one named 'amazonica' (African Mask) and another named 'amazonica polly' They all look so similar it's hard to tell. Guess like with brugs you end up with lots of look alikes.

Characteristics for all aroids or just alocasias? This could be a very long thread either way. It would be like trying to tell people how to tell bromeliads apart. Aroids have a vast array of foliage forms growing habits as well as flower sizes. But all should have a spath of some sort and a spadix of some sort. When I first started collecting I went to a collectors nursery, he had shade houses full of odd aroids. I could not tell a single thing apart and he knew each by name. After being around them you look for certain things. Anthuriums have a vein that runs around the edge of the leaf and philodendrons do not. Xanthosomas and syngoniums have white sap and philos and alocasias do not. Things like this help me ID many aroids. But in most cases I have grown most forms out there and can tell just by looking at a good leaf or flower what most are. I will start another post on the subject of telling elephant ears apart.

Linda,

I have 2 varieties of alocasia amazonica.

A large one that gets leaves up to 19 inches long for me was tagged African Mask

and a smaller var. Polly that is like a little sister to the big one , Polly's leaves are only half as long.

Polly is often found at HD but I have yet to find larger varieties of alocasia amazonica in a store.

Thanks Brian, I never even thought about comparing the flowers. Will have to watch them carefully now.

This was taken 2 years ago when I first got them.

They are much fuller now , especially Polly. She puts out more leaves.

I'll try to find more recent pictures later.

Polly is a sport of amazonica so they are the same plant polly is a miniture mutant out of TC found by Dennis at silver Krome gardens.

I guess I have a 'Polly', my largest leaf is about 10 x 14

I also have the Polly I got her about 3 weeks ago at Lowes for half price. She hasn't put on any new leaves, I just hope she makes it. She really doesn't look bad just not doing anything either.

They do grow really slow , that's why I'm such a nutt about no one touching the leaves.

They grow best for me in a bright North facing window.

What happens if you touch the leaves.

Mind is in a east window with a sheer curtain on it.

Everyone wants to touch these as soon as they come in the room.

I just worry about salt or oil deposits from the skin hurting them.

For no reason they someimes start getting brown spots and later the whole leaf would die.

I takes my big one about 6 months to fully grow a leaf.

So da rulz are "DONT TOUCH DA PLANT"

Thanks for the information, I have it in my bedroom on my night stand. So I shouldn't have to make a sign saying,

"DONT TOUCH DA PLANT"

OR ELSE !